Indoor Park: A community project

Indoor Park

While living in Lawrenceburg (Hidden Valley) I had the awesome opportunity to bring the boys to a church that provided Indoor Park.  Basically, it is safe and fun place where parents can socialize and kids can play with toys and other children.  They would split a large auditorium in half with chairs.  One side had riding toys (tricycles, cozy coupe cars, mini slides, walking toys, big body activities) and the other side had kitchen workshops, tool workshops, large trucks, imagination spaces, and even a craft table.  This place was free of charge to any family!  What a blessing to have a place to bring my kids to burn off energy and I could talk to ADULTS!!!  Win, Win!!

With our move, I wanted my kids to have those opportunities to play with other kids and get out of the house.  With the zoo, children's museum, ect being a couple hours away now, I felt God calling me to start an Indoor Park in this area to serve as a ministry to the families living here and moving.  It is amazing how fast the word spreads, God love small communities.  So, we hadn't even made the second move (first move to my Mom and Dad's house until we found our new home), and I was invited to attend a New Neighbors meeting because they like my Indoor Park idea.  And, the rest is becoming reality very quickly.  Old neighbors welcoming new neighbors sums up the philosophy of New Neighbors of Southwestern Auglaize County.  I started pulling the Indoor Park TEAM together, and our space for Indoor Park was just approved today!  So exciting!!! So exciting, that it is almost midnight and I am still wide awake!  Toy donations are starting to pour into my inbox, so I feel we should be able to start Jan. 22nd.  Indoor Park will be held once a week on Tuesdays from 10am till 1pm at St. Paul United Church of Christ, NB.  Once the weather turns and it is nice, there will be scheduled outdoor park days once a week to substitute for Indoor Park.  

A big thanks to: 
St. Paul United Church of Christ-support and providing space
Southwestern Auglaize County Chamber of Commerce & New Neighbors of Southwestern Auglaize Co.
Indoor Park Ministry TEAM Members: Sara Kremer, Amy Woehrmyer, Donna Steineman, Linda Tinsley, Tracy Moeder, Bert McDermitt, & (I think another might be coming on board, I'll keep you posted.)
Anyone who donated toys!!

We are still growing our TEAM, so if you or anyone you know is looking to provide ministry to your community please contact me (419) 953-4887.  We'd love to explore if Indoor Park could be a fit for you.  Toy donations are still being accepted as well.

Indoor Park is free of charge for children ages 0-5 with a supervising adult.  Each adult is allowed to bring up to 5 children.  A registration form must be on file for each family during Indoor Park Season, if you are bringing someone else's child, please contact me because the registration form MUST be completed by the child's legal guardian.  We ask that each family donate a roll of paper towels and/or craft supplies.  (Thank You!)  *These guidelines were established to help Indoor Park run smoothly and be a positive experience for everyone.  Thank you for adhering to them.

Snow Days!!

 Snow Days!!

 And snow has arrived at our house!  It looks like a winter wonderland.  Noah and Eli are so excited.  I love days when I get to bundle my kids and take them out to sled and build a snowman.  It is awesome to feel like a kid again and live vicariously through them.

 It was awesome to shovel a flat driveway this year!!  Hidden Valley friends, you know what we are talking about.  And, our house came with a snow blower.  Laura would always say that we had already had one...

I had spent a good majority of the day removing snow at the shop and was relieved when I came home from work to see she had 90% of the driveway cleared.  She had figured out how to start it earlier that day and was really happy about how fast it went.  Right at the end, she ran out of gas, brought the kids in the house and said the rest was mine.  I could handle that small amount with a shovel!

  One of our best days hanging out in the snow was New Years Day.  We took photos of our gigantic icicle hanging from the gutter and then Noah knocked it down.  I really wanted to see if it would make it to the ground....darn kids!

Check out the huge icicle to the left of Noah!  It was a fun family activity to check how big it grew everyday.

The kids love being pulled in the sled and Laura & I tag teamed pulling them around the yard.  Of course, she is a kid too and wanted a ride.  How can I say no?  And, then they wanted me to take their picture making snow angels.  Eli was a riot, Laura put him in the snow and we told him to move his arms and legs.  So, he just started waving his hands in the air.  Too bad, we can't find our video camera charger (it went MIA in the move), because it would have made hilarious video footage.  Here are the snow angels:

Kids bundled in their snow gear, too puffy to move is about the cutest, funniest sight ever.  We'll have to get out and enjoy the snow a couple more times before the temps warm up this next week.  We'd love to hear about your too puffy in snow gear to move, snow day activities.  

-Naturally Dad